Stay by my side
by Wenddyyxo
Summary: Because of a spell gone wrong, they are physical connected for at least an entire year. What will happen between the sworn enemies? And what will they go through along the way?
1. Physical Connection

**Stay by my side**

_**Chapter 1: Physical connection **_

**Authors note: **_I don't own anything, everything belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling. I do however own my mistakes. _

"Harry Potter and Pansy Parkinson," Professor Flitwick read out loud from his parchment in front of him.

"Ronald Weasley and Blaise Zabini," the list went on.

"Daphne Greengrass and Dean Thomas," Hermione looked around, blocking out the professor whom enumerated pairs of names while she was wondering whom she might get paired up with.

With hopeful eyes she scanned the Gryffindor group, her best friends were already taken but she saw a few people whom wouldn't be too bad if she got paired up with them.

But all of those thoughts went away when she heard her name, "Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy" her mouth dropped slightly open and her eyes widened.

Her eyes drifted from the Professor to Malfoy, and judging by his face she saw that he wasn't happy with this at all either.

She waited a few minutes and only stared at him, waiting for him to come to her. When it finally became apparent that he wasn't planning on coming to her, she pushed away her dignity and picked up her spellbook along with her schoolbag and walked over to him. Just one simple thought repeating itself in her head like a mantra, _It's only practicing, no big deal, there will be no harm._

When she relucantly sat down she felt his ice cold stare burning through and she let out a frustrated sigh and turned to face him. "Look, Malfoy. I am not happy about this either, but let's just get it over with, the faster we're done, the faster we can go our own way – far away from each other." Hermione said, emphasizing the last sentence.

Hermione picked up the work sheet that was laying front of a simple wooden block and she held the parchment in front of her face, seeing in the corner of her eye that Draco was reading along with her.

Basically what the parchment said was that they were supposed to do a Disillusionment Charm. The spell would – if pronounced right – hide the object that was laying in front of them.

The parchment said in big letters at the bottom of the sheet: "Warning! Practice the pronounciation without wands thoroughly, or the consiquenses will be severe."

But, both of them were way too eager to get rid of each other, and therefore didn't read further then the task at hand.

They both gave a quick glance at the sheet for the right sentence and they both looked at each other, "I'll count down." Hermione said, the annoying undertone clearly obvious.

"3.." she said, gripping her wand confidently.

"2.." she said a bit faster.

"1.." and her eyes were strictly focused on the object in front of her.

Both counting the last second in their head, they said at the same time: "Contraria contrariis curantur."

Without even having time to think, they both were thrown back out of their seats and Draco landed on top of Hermione, him helding both her hands above her head with his own hands.

At this moment the whole classroom fell quiet and they all stared at the couple laying on the floor.

Draco looked disgusted as soon as he realized in what position they were in and was about to let go of her hands and stand up, but the high pitched voice of their professor stopped his actions by nearly screaming in shock, "Don't!"

Both Hermione and Draco gave him a questioning an confused look, but all he said was, "You two should see Professor Dumbledore immediately, and don't you dare letting go of each other!" He warned them, the shock fading and anger replacing.

The two teenagers were grumbling while trying to properly get up. "Can we at least let one hand go?" Draco asked annoyed.

The professor hadn't even be able to give them a proper nod and the teenagers had already let go of – in Hermione's case – her left hand and – in Draco's case – his right hand.

Hermione and Draco both picked up their schoolbags and hurriedly made their way out of the classroom, away from the prying eyes, and mostly hoping to end whatever this was very soon.

After what seemed like endless walking they finally arrived at the third floor and were now standing in front of the gargoyle. Hermione was glad that she still rememberd the password from when she was here only a week ago with Harry.

"Cheetos," she said, mentioning the muggle food. The gargoyle stepped aside and they were now walking to the moving stone staircase and waited until it made it's way fully up.

They now stood in front of the big wooden door and Hermione lifted her hand up and knocked eagerly on the door.

A cheerful male voice said, "Come in," and both teenager burst in as soon as he finished those two simple words.

Professor Dumbledore raised his eyebrow slightly when he saw the entwined hands and a questioning look, but that was soon replaced with curiosity when he saw their flustered and above of all, frustrated faces.

"How can I help you?" He asked with a friendly smile on his face.

Hermione spoke first, "We're not allowed to let go of each other. We have no clue why."

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked, leaning forward in his chair, quite eager to hear more about this.

This time it was Draco's turn to speak, "We were in Charms, we probably pronounced a spell wrong, and before I knew it I was laying on Granger." he said with a disgusted face.

Dumbledore nodded, "What spell was it? And what did you two say?"

"It was a Disillusionment Charm, and I believe that we said, 'Contraria contrariis curantur'" Hermione said.

Dumbledore sunk back in his chair and shook his head. "Before I'm going to say anything further, I am going to inform you that what you two said, is incorrect. You should have said 'Contraria contrariis curan.'"

"But, why are we like this? We only pronounced one simple thing wrong." Hermione asked, confused.

Dumbledore gave her a surprised look, "What led you to not read the warning at the bottom of the sheet?" he asked curious.

Hermione's eyes widened when he mentioned a warning, she hadn't seen any. "Um.. I-I just wanted to.. um.. be done with it so I um.. could get away from Malfoy." she stuttered, realizing her mistake.

Dumbledore nodded, "Maybe it is good that this happened," he mumbled really soft, not audible for the two teenagers, whom were standing three feet away from him.

"Well, let me give you some answers." he said, and made eye contact with each of the students.

"What happened is that you two are now physical connected, and mostly these charms have a duration of an entire year before it subsides." he spoke, and watched their reaction closely: Hermione's was puzzled, horrified and anxious, Draco's was confused, disgusted and angry.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Dumbledore held his hand up, silencing her. "There is however no cure. So you two have to pay the consequenses for your foolish actions." he said.

"Now, let me tell you what the consequenses are if you let go of each other: letting go of each other for even a simple second will cause limb loss and health problems." a few gasps were heard.

"I understand that this will be a problem with sleeping, since you won't have any control over your body. And I might not be able to help you with curing this, but I can guide you through it, so I have a proposal: I am willing to magnetically charm you two so that you two are forced to stay together, even if only your toes are touching." He looked at them, waiting for them to give him an answer.

Hermione looked at Draco and a few seconds later he met his eyes, then he looked at Dumbledore. "Do it." he said, his voice full of irritation. He realized that he had to be tied to this mudblood for at least a year.

The professor nodded and made their way over to them, coming to a halt when he was in front of them. He muttered a spell and the teenagers felt the charm becoming stronger.

Dumbledore took a few steps back so he could have a better look at his students. "I advice you to only use your toes and fingertops when necessary. It is a risky position, because holding this for more than a half hour, will weaken the magnetic charm and it will still infect your health. And longer than a hour might cause limb loss. So be careful." he warned them.

The students nodded and so did Dumbledore. "Are there any questions?"

Hermione was the first to speak, "How about our class schedule? And where do we sleep? And in which house are we in?" she hurriedly asked, eager to get the answers.

Dumbledore chuckled softly and gave her a smile. "For the first half year you two will follow mr. Malfoy's schedule, and the other half year you two will follow miss. Granger's schedule. Furthermore, for now you two will sleep in Gryffindor, seeing that will be the best option. I will try to organize something else for both of you, but for now you have to wait. And you two will still be in your respected houses."

Hermione nodded and Draco just gave a frustrated sigh, until a thought struck him.

"What about Quidditch practice?" he asked.

"Yes, I understand that will be a slight problem. I do however have no intention to keep you two from doing what you like, even with the complication. I also trust that you both will figure out the obstacles along the way and make the right decisions. But seeing as this is a major one, I'll make it." Dumbledore looked at his students and saw two hopeful faces, the only difference was that Hermione hoped that it would be cancelled for as long as they were bounded, and Draco hoped that it wouldn't be cancelled, even if it meant having to drag the mudblood with him on his broom.

"You two will both attend Quidditch practice." he said, having made his conclusion.

Hermione grumbled annoyed and Draco gave a triumphant smirk.

"Now, if that was all you two can go. Do not hesitate to find me if there is anything unusual happening between you two because of the bond. And neither if you two have any questions." he said and sat back in his chair.

They both nodded and made their way out, still holding hands.

When they were walking on the third floor Hermione spoke up, "Let's go to the library. I want to be sure if there is any cure or not."

Normally the thought of going to the library didn't struck him, but today was an exception. He was more than willing to do everything it took to get rid of the mudblood next to him, so he nodded and they both made their way to the large entrance that wasn't too far away from them.

As they entered, Draco briefly wondered where the hell to look, since there were ten thousands of books.

But Hermione being the bookworm, she knew exactly where to be and thus walked over to the Reference section – dragging Draco with her –, knowing that this section covers counter-curses quite well.

Her eyes scanned the book shelves and after endless of searching she couldn't find anything. There were a lot of counter-curses books but none included anything about a physical connection.

They both let out a frustrated sigh, knowing that they just wasted forty-five minutes of their lives.

"Malfoy?" Hermione asked uncertain and cursed under her breath for her human needs.

"What?" Draco hissed, clearly still extremely annoyed, and hearing her voice didn't make anything better.

"I really have to go to the toilet.." Hermione murmured.

_**Authors note: **_

**Contraria contrariis curantur is Latin for **The opposite is cured with the opposite

**Contraria contrariis curan is Latin for **Contrast of subject

_Although, don't hate me if I might have translated something wrong, I'm only human. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know! _


	2. Figuring Things Out

**Stay by my side**

_**Chapter 2: Figuring things out **_

**Authors note: **_I don't own anything, everything belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling. I do however own my mistakes. _

Draco blinked a few times and then he gave a frustrated sigh. "Seriously?" he asked annoyed.

Hermione gave him a hard glare. "I can't help it either. I had no time this morning and since I've been drinking a lot.. and well, how could I know that I'd be bounded to you?" she said with equal annoyance.

Draco sighed and knew better then to argue about this, so he tugged her along and out of the library.

"We should go to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, no one will be there, so no chance of getting spotted." Hermione said, uncomfortably shifting, she didn't know how it happened, but all of a sudden she really had to pee.

Draco gave a small simple nod and let her lead them to the first floor, over the stone bridge until they reached the lavatory.

Hermione walked in front and checked if she saw Myrtle, and luckily there was no sign of her at the moment.

She walked to the closest toilet cubicle and opened the door, standing still when she was in it, and figuring out how to do this.

"Take of your left shoe and sock." Hermione said and Draco gave her a weird look, making it hard for Hermione to control her laughter, so instead she just rolled her eyes.

"Just do it." she said and took of her right shoe and sock herself.

With a lot of grumbling he had finally taken of his shoe and sock. Hermione placed her foot on top of his, and when she did this he immediately pulled back, "What the hell?" he said.

Hermione gave a frustrated sigh, "Malfoy! I am in highly need and unless you want to hold my hand while I'm on the toilet, I suggest you to just work along." she said, irritation crystal clear in her voice.

Draco didn't seem very attracted with that idea so he let her put her foot once again on his and then they let their hands go.

"Okay, as soon as I close this door, I need you to walk as close to the door as possible." Hermione said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Draco grunted and she took that as an agreement and so she closed the door, giving a soft relieved sigh that he was finally out of her sight for a few minutes and she felt him walking forward, and so she moved along, but instead of walking forward, she walked backwards.

After a few steps he came to a halt and it was exactly enough space for her to be able to sit down.

So she pressed her skirt, and underwear down and sat down on the toilet. Looking at the toilet door, sitting in a pretty uncomfortable position since her right leg was fully stretched forward.

About thirty seconds went by in complete silence and Hermione bit her lip. She really had to go, but it was too quiet for her to comfortably pee, since she knew that Draco would hear exactly how she peed. And that wasn't a very comfortable thought.

She heard a frustrated sigh and an impatient knock on the door. "I thought you were in highly need?" he said annoyed.

"I am. But knowing that you are listening kind of keeps me from doing what I want." she said, tapping her fingertops on her upper leg.

"Get over it, Granger. I'm not happy about hearing it either." he growled.

She knew this was going to sound bizarre, but it was the only solution she could come up with. "So um, nice weather, huh?" she said, biting her lip.

"What the hell, Granger? You're seriously talking about the weather?" he asked, and she could already imagine his raised eyebrow and a small smirk forming on his face.

"I'm trying to start a conversation here, Malfoy. So I can fulfill my needs without you having to hear it." she said annoyed.

She easily imagined him rolling his eyes when he said, "Fine. Yeah, the weather is amazing. Even better for Quidditch practice, although it might be a tad too warm."

And while he was talking she finally let go and a soft relieved sigh escaped her lips. "When is Quidditch practice?" she hated talking about Quidditch, and even more talking about Quidditch with Malfoy, but she had no choice, it was the only thing that would keep him talking, and that's exactly what she needed.

"Well, seeing as it's Thursday, it's today." he said.

Hermione cringed inwardly and then said, "How are we supposed to sit on your broom together?" she asked.

"Simple, you're going to sit behind me, so I can do my role as seeker and you, well, you'll just have to entertain yourself." he said, his smirk reflected in his voice.

Hermione sighed and she was finally done, which had taken about almost two minutes. She wiped herself clean, dressed herself again and flushed the toilet.

Picking up her shoe and sock she spoke up, "Walk backwards." she said, and while he did that, she walked forward, until she reached the door and said, "Stop."

She took a deep breath, preparing herself to see his face again and then opened the door.

"Done already?" he asked sarcastically, she just simply rolled her eyes.

Draco relucantly entwined his left hand with her right hand and Hermione slipped her foot of his.

They managed to put their socks on theirselves, just like their shoes, but tying their laces was a whole different story.

They both made eye contact and sighed before they fully kneeled down. "Help me out first." Draco said.

Hermione brought her left hand over to his left shoe and it took them a while but they finally managed to tie it.

Then Draco helped Hermione with her right shoe and after five full minutes they came back up again.

Hermione took her watch out of her robe pocket and looked at the time and then dropped it back in her pocket. "It's twelve o'clock exact, we should head to the Great Hall for lunch." she said and he nodded.

"Lunch at the Slytherin table." he said and Hermione gave him a look that said, 'Hell no'.

"Granger, get over it. I'm already forced to sleep in the Gryffindor tower, and if you really want to negotiate, how about dinner at Gryffindor, hmm?" he said, having a lot of trouble controlling his frustration.

"Okay, fine." Hermione said and they both made their way out of the bathroom, walked to the Entrance Hall and they both took a deep breath before opening the two large doors of the Great Hall.

The loud chatter and laughter that filled the room subsided and everyone was completely quiet when they saw Draco and Hermione holding hands.

Hermione scanned the room and she made eye contact with her best friends Harry, Ron and Ginny. They gave her a confused and questioning look. Harry mouthed, "everything okay?" and she shook her head, mouthing back, "I'll tell you later." she saw Harry nodding, then mouthing back, "When?" and she mouthed back, "After lunch, meet us at the Clock Tower courtyard." and Harry nodded.

Everyone saw the silent conversation between Harry and Hermione, but no one except for Harry, Ginny and Hermione knew what they were saying.

She felt Draco's hand tugging her hand and with a sigh they walked over to the Slytherin table. Feeling rather uncomfortable under all the stares.

They sat down at the bench and after a few minutes he couldn't take it any longer, "There's nothing to see here." he hissed loudly to everyone.

Whispers filled the Great Hall and Hermione's eyes fell on professor Dumbledore whom nodded encouraging with a smile.

All she could do was giving a small nod back. She heard Draco vaguely interacting with his friends Theodore and Blaise, telling them what was happening. Making sure to emphasis the words 'mudblood' , 'Granger' , 'all her fault'.

She just rolled her eyes and took a small piece of bread and nibbled on it, not feeling hungry at all.

After what felt like hours to Hermione, Draco finally stopped with whining and was now eating a piece of toast.

"We have to go to the clock tower courtyard." Hermione said in a voice so only he could hear.

Draco stared nonchalantly in front of him, "Why?" he said, matching her voice.

"I have to fill my friends in on what's happening." Hermione said in the same soft voice, dropping her half eaten piece of bread back on her plate.

"Fine, let's go." he said, taking a last bite of his toast.

Hermione nodded to Harry, Ron and Ginny, whom were all staring at her and Draco.

Draco and Hermione both stood up, with a bit of trouble but they made it. They left the Great Hall, feeling all eyes on them, and made their way to the fourth floor and came to a halt when they arrived outside at the clock tower courtyard.

Only a few minutes later they saw Harry, Ron and Ginny coming towards them.

As soon as Ginny was close enough, she hugged Hermione, and Hermione gave her a half hug back, since she couldn't move her other arm since her hand was entwined with Draco's.

Ginny stepped back and stood in the middle of Ron and Harry.

Hermione looked at all three of them and saw Harry's face full of worry, Ginny's face was full of curiosity and confusion and Ron was flame red with fury and jealousy.

"I demand an explanation, Hermione!" Ron choked out, but Hermione simply rolled her eyes.

Hermione explained everything that had happened today. Telling them for how long they were connected, how their days will gonna look like, where they will sleep. And this is the part where Harry threatens Draco with the 'if-you-ever-touch-her threat' but it was soon interrupted by Draco, saying in a disgusted tone: "Do you seriously think I would willingly touch the mudblood? Holding her hand is torture enough already."

And by saying 'mudblood' he had managed to get three fuming people about to attack him.

But, to save herself, she had to save him, so she yelled: "Stop!"

All of them gave her a questioning look, so she decided to explain herself, "Listen, if you attack him right now, you'll drag me right into it, because in case it slipped your mind, I'm freaking connected to him!" Hermione shouted out, took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone, "And besides, killing him would force me to walk around with a dead body! And who knows what might happen to me when he dies, since we're connected and all."

This stopped them and she gave a relieved sigh. "I don't know what you did, but I swear Malfoy, if I find out, I'll kill you." Ron said and stepped forward.

"Ron, enough! As much as I hate to admit it, it's as much as mine fault as his, so stop!" Hermione said, raising her voice.

Ron gave her a questioning look, shook his head and angrily walked away.

Harry and Ginny watched Ron leave and then Ginny looked at Hermione, "Just let him, we'll talk to him later. You go ahead and focus on the bigger problem." she said with a smile.

Hermione smiled grateful back, "Yeah, we'll support you no matter what." Harry said and gave Hermione a big hug.

Hermione gave a big half hug back and waved them both goodbye.

"You really need to learn how to tame your boyfriend." Draco said while looking around.

"Ron isn't my boyfriend." Hermione said and Draco raised his eyebrow and then lowered it and shrugged it off.

"We should see professor Dumbledore, asking if we have to follow the rest of the today's classes." Hermione said and Draco nodded.

So they made their way over to the third floor, passing the gargoyle and knocking once again on the wooden door, opening it when they heard a "come in".

They both enetered and Dumbledore greeted them with a smile and said, "Miss. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, how can I help you?" he asked.

"Well, we were wondering if we had to take the rest of today's classes." Hermione asked, stretching her fingers one by one at the hand she was holding with Draco.

"No, you can skip them for today. I'll inform the teachers. You two relax and just attend Quidditch practice today." he said with a friendly smile and the students nodded their heads, bid their goodbyes and walked out of his office.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Hermione asked Draco. Even though she didn't like him at all, and physical connection or not, he was still her enemy, but she was glad that they weren't throwing snarky comments at each other full time.

"Slytherin dungeons, I have to pack some stuff for Quidditch practice and upcoming nights." Draco said and Hermione nodded in understanding.

So they walked to the dungeons, bypassing students whom where on their way to class. Which was another thing they were grateful for, because when Draco said the password and they entered the Slytherin common room, it was completely empty.

Hermione allowed Draco to lead her up the boys' dormitory and she saw him packing up all of his stuff in his suitcase, via magic, of course.

Levitating the suitcase behind them, they made their way over to the Gryffindor tower, both breathless from all the walking.

"Veritas Vos Liberabit" Hermione breathed out and the Fat Lady opened.

They both made their way inside the Gryffindor common room and this time it was Hermione leading Draco up the girls' dormitory.

She pointed out her bed and Draco let his suitcase fall down on her bed.

Hermione gave a questioning look when she saw a package laying on her pillow.

She reached forward and picked it up, read the note that said:

"_So you will fit in, good luck! _

_Sincerly, _

_Professor Dumbledore." _

She opened the package and saw a green with silver Quidditch costume.

Draco saw it and smirked, "That man really does think of everything, doesn't he?" he said

"Why does it have to be Slytherin colors?" Hermione mocked and Draco just laughed.

"We better get changed." He said and Hermione nodded.

They decided that Draco would change first, and so he first took of his shoes and socks, and Hermione did too, so they could make easier contact.

Draco slid out of his school robes and while he undid his pants Hermione looked everywhere except at him. She did saw him picking up his beige Quidditch pants though, and that was her clue that he now was only standing in his underwear.

She felt a blush creeping on her face and so she turned her head to the left to shield her face from Draco. When she was certain that it was gone she turned her head back and heard Draco saying that they had to do some twisting to get his shirt off.

So he first freed his right arm, and then Draco turned his whole body to the left so he was now looking at Hermione. She did the same and they grabbed each other's hands with their free hands and then they realised their former hands so Draco could free his left arm too.

Then he pulled his sweater over his head and when he was done, he undid his tie and unbuttoned his button-down-shirt. He removed his free arm, which was left and then they changed hands so he could free his right arm.

Hermione had a lot of trouble keeping her eyes of his stomach, but it was quite hard since he had a bloody sixpack!

Draco smirked when he noticed her struggle but knew better than to make snarky comments right now.

He grabbed his Quidditch sweater and put his free arm – right – through the sleeve, they switched hands and then he put his left arm through it.

When he was done it was Hermione's turn, which she wasn't looking forward to at all.

She was about to command him to turn around and give her at least some sort of privacy, when he already turned around on his own command. Her eyebrows raised surprised but she quickly recovered and decided to use this moment to change without him looking at her.

She pulled her skirt down and picked up the beige pants and put them on. Then she undid her robes and freed her left arm from her sweaters.

When she turned around to face Draco, he also turned around and they switched hands. Hermione freed her right arm and had a little bit more trouble pulling the sweater over her head with just one hand than Draco had.

So with a smirk Draco helped her and tossed the sweater aside.

Hermione rolled her eyes when she saw his smirk and then undid her tie, trying to draw this moment out as long as possible, knowing that within a while she had to stand in only a bra in front of him.

She took a deep breath and unbuttoned her button-down-shirt, revealing a plain white bra, and Draco's eyes widened for a second, because if he would throw a random guess he'd say she has a C cup at least, maybe even a D. Something he didn't expect at all.

But he recovered fast before she could see. He studied her face for a second and smirked when he saw her blushing.

She freed her left arm and then they switched hands, and she freed her right arm as well.

With an obvious hurry she pulled the Quidditch sweater over her head and pulled her right arm through it, they switched hands again and then pulled her left arm through.

Then all of a sudden she freezed and face palmed herself. "We are such idiots!" Hermione said rather loud.

"Pardon me?" Draco said with a raised eyebrow.

"Here we are, switching hands like crazy while we could've easily set them both free, simply by touching each other's feet." Hermione explained.

Realization struck him and he grunted, he hated to admit that she was right, but he really had to now. They really could've saved all the trouble by just one simple movement.

"Oh well, it's a little too late now." Draco said, although he did put his feet on top of hers, letting go of their hands while he put on his Quidditch robes, waiting until she had done the same before grabbing her hand again and putting on his socks, putting on his brown leather Quidditch boots and once again waited until she was done.

Hermione murmured a spell that nicely piled up their clothes and then he took his broomstick and they both left the girls' dormitory and calmly walked through the castle and on their way to the Quidditch field.

When Hermione read the mark on the broom that said 'Twigger 90' she chuckled inwardly, she might not know much about Quidditch and brooms, but she did know that the Twigger 90 had a reputation as a broom flown by those with more money than sense.

While walking she took out her pocket watch and looked at the time, a little shocked that the time had gone so fast already.

"How late does the practice start?" Hermione asked and Draco answered, "Five o'clock."

That meant that they had still a half hour to pass until it started, and with a sigh she dropped the watch back in her robe.

Within ten minutes of more walking they reached the field and Hermione sighed, shielding her eyes with her free hand – her right hand – from the sun.

"Let's go in the air." Draco said and had already stepped on his broom.

Hermione just simply stared at it and bit her lip, and Draco let out a frustrated sigh. "What's the matter, Granger?" he asked annoyed.

She really didn't want to tell him, but she knew she had to, and so she hung her head, and whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "I'm scared of heights."

His eyebrows raised and let out an amused laugh, and here he was, thinking that she wasn't afraid of anything.

He sighed and knew that the only way to get her up this broom is to comfort her, even though it pained him to even think about it.

"Look, Granger. Nothing will happen, and besides, you're magnetically attracted to me, if you fall off it will be because of me and you can..-" he thought for a second and forced the words out, "-hex me to death if anything happens, okay?" he said.

Hermione liked that idea and was willing to go with it, and so she carefully sat down on the broom.

"There's only one problem.." Draco said and looked back and looked at Hermione, and smirked when he saw her eyes widening in fear.

"You see, I need my two hands to fly, and feet aren't an option.." he saw her eyes relax.

He fell silent for a second, contemplating a plan.

"Lay your right hand on my stomach, when you're done, do the same with your left hand." he said, even though he hated to say it, he didn't want the mudblood to touch him, but he saw no other way.

Hermione's eyes widened again and she was about to shake her head and disagree with him when he said annoyed, "Just do it, Granger."

Hermione relucantly slipped her right hand under Draco's Quidditch robe and then under his Quidditch sweater, her hand reaching his stomach and when she felt his abs she swallowed away her thoughts and blushed violent, very grateful that by now Draco was looking straight forward and no one was around.

They both let go of their connected hands and Hermione pulled up her right sleeve with her left hand and then rubbed her left arm against the side of her ribs in attempt to pull up her left sleeve to, and after a bit of struggle it worked. She now slipped her left hand under his Quidditch robe and his Quidditch sweater and her arms crossed in front of his stomach, holding on to him tight, but not too tight to strangle him.

While she was busy with her hands, he slid his hands into his Quidditch gloves.

When Draco felt that she was secure, he lifted them from the ground and as he did so, he felt her grip tighten and he smirked.

Not long after, other Slytherins came and soon the practice had started.

Hermione had been holding on to him so tight that he sometimes had trouble breathing and had to tell her to losen her grip, which made her blush whole time over again.

Sometimes he would even made circle dives downwards, pulling up just in time before they hit the ground. Sometimes just to scare her off, and sometimes because it was necessary.

After a long hour of training they finally reached the ground again and Hermione was the first to get off.

But before she did he slid his hands out of his gloves, put them in his Quidditch robe pockets, and gave her his left hand, which she grabbed with her right and with trembling knees she got off, strengthen her grip on his hand to make sure she wouldn't fall.

He got off with ease from his broom and when he held the broom firmly in place next to him he looked at Hermione. "Here's the thing I don't understand, Granger. You're afraid of heights but yet you're extremely at ease in the Gryffindor tower."

"I'm only afraid of heights on a broom.. I'm afraid to fall off." she said, readjusting her sleeves.

"Well, we've got to work on that then. Considering we're about to fly a lot more these upcoming months." he said and saw Hermione cringe and smirked.

He looked around him and sighed, "But for now, let's grab some fresh clothes and let's take a shower." he said.

_**Authors note: **_

**Veritas Vos Liberabit is Latin for **The Truth Shall Set You Free.

_Also, thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites and follows already! I'm glad that you like this fanfiction as much as I do, anyways let me know if you liked this chapter, I at least hope you did. _


	3. The Nightmare

**Stay by my side**

_**Chapter 3: The nightmare**_

**Authors note: **_I don't own anything, everything belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling. I do however own my mistakes. Talking about mistakes, I want to correct myself, because I've been saying 'entwined' whole the time when I actually meant 'intertwined'. _

**Comment on a review: **_I find it rather amusing that someone reviewed me _**_"What about showering? Hermione is gonna hate that.."_**_ when I had been planning it all along. I was briefly wondering for a second if you can read minds. Either way, I hope I didn't let you down with the showering part. Keep in mind that the tension between them is still rather awkward so there won't be happening much. _

They both walked to the Gryffindor Tower, this time having less luck since the common room was filled with students, whom were staring at the two the moment they entered.

But the two teenagers ignored them and went up directly to the girls' dormitory and when Hermione looked around she saw a few girls chatting on each others beds, whom were all looking very skeptic when they saw the Slytherin ferret and the Gryffindor bookworm walking in together, not to mention the fact that Hermione was wearing Slytherin colors.

Once again they ignored the people around them and they simply walked over to Hermione's bed.

Draco put his broom to the bedside and they both took a pair of fresh clothes, a towel and some shampoo, Draco a comb and Hermione a brush. And let's not forget the toothbrush and toothpaste.

When they were done packing their stuff they walked out of the girls' dormitory, through the common room and through the corridors and on their way to Myrtle's bathroom.

"I'm getting so sick of all those staring people." Hermione spoke up suddenly.

"Well, what did you expect? We're sworn enemies, walking around holding hands, kind of weird, don't you think?" He coolly answered.

"Never said it wasn't." Hermione said and grinned when he said, "Touche," with a smirk.

"Where are we going to shower though?" Hermione asked as she looked at him.

"Quidditch changing room, seeing that they are now all gone." Draco said and Hermione nodded.

After a few minutes of silent walking they arrived at the locker room and they both entered and walked over to the bench.

They both dropped their stuff on the bench and seeming to read each other's mind they both took off their boots and socks, Draco covering his foot with hers.

They both took off their Quidditch robes and sweaters and when they were done they silently grabbed each other's hands and took off their pants.

The only thing left was their underwear and they both looked at each other for a second, "Let's just turn around." Hermione said awkwardly.

So they both turned around and Draco and Hermione both undressed themselves completely.

Then they both took their own towel from the pile of clothes and wrapped it around their body – Draco around his lower body and Hermione covering up her whole upper body and partly her lower body.

They also grabbed the shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush and made their way over to the shower stall, Draco opening the door so Hermione could walk in and he followed shortly after.

Hermione noticed that Draco also took along his wand so he could control the shower.

Hermione and Draco both dropped the stuff they were holding on a stone holder and they both hung their towels over the hooks placed on the wall.

Draco raised his wand up to the seiling and muttered a spell to make the water come out and set the right tempeture.

He then put his wand on the stone holder.

Then they both looked the other way to give each other some privacy while they walked forward.

When they stood under the panel the water covered their bodies and both of them turned around so they were now standing with their back to each other.

Hermione hooked her right foot around Draco's left ankle and they both let go of their hands.

Hermione in particular felt really nervous since she was very well aware of the fact that a certain naked blonde male was standing behind her, but on the other hand, she felt kind of disgusted knowing she stood naked behind him.

With a sigh she breathed out all the feelings she felt, at least most of them.

They stood there for another few minutes until she couldn't bear the silence anymore, "When is the upcoming Quidditch match?" she asked.

"Sunday, two o'clock, against Gryffindor," he said and she practically heard him smirking, which caused her to roll her eyes.

Great, so now she wasn't only forced to get on a broom, be surrounded with Slytherins but she also was in a match against Gryffindor.

Hermione stretched her left arm sideways and looked at the stone holder but her arm was just a few inches too short to reach it.

She grunted and was about to stretch her whole body, but Draco brushed his arm against hers in order to reach her shampoo and shoved it into her hand.

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled.

She poured some shampoo into her hand and was thinking about how the hell she was supposed to put it back until she felt a hand tapping her shoulder, indicating that he wanted her shampoo.

And so she gave him the shampoo and he put it back on the stone holder, picking up his own shampoo in the process, also pouring a bit on his hand and putting it right back.

They both lathered the shampoo into their hair and let the water rinsing it.

Hermione being the stubborn one, refused to ask Draco to give her the toothbrush and toothpaste, and so she leaned to the left, her left foot shuffling along, allowing her to stretch wider and easily grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste with her outstretched hand, satisfied that she got it herself.

She poured a bit toothpaste on her toothbrush before she put it back and after she did that, she wiggled rather uncomfortable back until she was in her former position.

She brushed her teeth and after about a minute she saw out of the corner of her eye Draco picking up his toothbrush and doing the same as she did – except for the awkward position.

When she was done she held her toothbrush in her hand, waiting until Draco turned down the shower.

A few more minutes went by and then he spoke up, "You okay with me turning the shower off?"

"Yeah," was all Hermione said, she felt rather uncomfortable and weird. This morning she had been throwing death glares at the ferret and having fights with him, and now she was standing completely naked with him in the shower.

Hermione quickly took her towel of the hook and both staying in the same position they started drying themselves off – careful not to bump into each other.

Hermione tried to dry her hair as much as possible, but it didn't work out quite well because of her thick hair – so she just gave up.

They wrapped their towels once again around their bodies, picked up their supplies, intertwined their hands and walked out of the shower stall.

They both turned around again and Hermione hooked her foot around his ankle and they both started dressing their upper body.

When they were done they gave each other a hand and Hermione let her foot slip away from his ankle and they both dressed their lower body.

Hermione brushed her hair while Draco combed his, both trying to make the best of it.

After a few minutes Hermione was about to put on her socks and shoes when he stopped her by saying, "Wait."

She gave him a confused look and before she could ask why, he said, "It's my turn to 'fulfill my needs'" he said with a smirk, imitating her words.

Hermione rolled her eyes and together they walked to the toilet stall, and to their distaste the door reached to the ground, making it impossible for Hermione to wait outside.

"We can leave the door op-" Draco said but got cut off when the locker room door opened and a bunch of Slytherin guys came in, ready to change into their Quidditch uniform, probably to have their own personal practice.

Hermione and Draco were both spotted by the few guys but they didn't say anything.

With a frustrated sigh he dragged Hermione into the toilet stall with him and locked the door.

It didn't help much either that the toilet stall was pretty small.

But Hermione turned around as best as possible either way, being in a very uncomfortable position since her right side was pressing into the sink next to her. "Hook your foot around my ankle," he said.

She did as she was told and searched with her foot for his ankle but couldn't find it first, until she realised that he must have been standing in a wide position and so she reached a little further sideways and her right foot met his left ankle and she hooked around it and their hands let go.

She could hear him unbuckling his belt and she felt the air between them moving.

Hermione stared uncomfortably in front of her while she heard him pee, her fingertops lightly tapping her upperarms.

About thirty seconds later he finally stopped and Hermione heard him flush the toilet and buckling his belt before saying, "Give me your hand," when he found out that she crossed them in front of her chest.

"No way, not before you have washed your hands." Hermione said, knowing perfectly well where his hands had been.

"I can't, you're blocking the sink." and as soon as he had said this, she hooked her other foot with his right ankle and let her left foot slip away, turned around a bit further and took a step forward so he had full access to the sink.

She heard the water running and when she didn't hear it anymore she heard hands sliding against clothes and then he felt his dry hand grabbing her hand.

He unlocked the door with his right hand and he went out first while she followed, very well aware of the stares the boys were giving them.

They both reached the pile of clothes and Hermione took her wand, and shrunk her supplies and then dropped it in her robe pockets.

When she looked at Draco he saw her giving her a questioning look, and she rolled her eyes. _Had he seriously never learned the shrinking charm? _She thought.

She muttered the spell once again while pointing at his supplies and when she was done he put it in his robe pockets.

They left the changing room and made their way to the castle, figuring it would be dinner time by now.

In complete silent they had made their way over to the Great Hall, and since the doors were already open, Hermione figured that dinner must have just started.

"Where do you want to eat?" Hermione asked, while she uncomfortably looked around, very well aware of the fact that literally everyone was looking at them, and not just because they hadn't over come their shock that they were holding hands – no, more because their hair was still really wet, and all kind of wrong images went through the students minds. Even the teachers couldn't help but wonder what exactly had been going on.

Draco said nothing, he just tugged her hand and led her over to the Gryffindor table, to her surprise.

They both took a seat next to each other on the bench, Hermione next to Harry, and Draco next to some third year girl, whom was pretty anxious about him sitting next to her. In front of the pair sat Ginny and Ron, and Ginny gave Hermione a reaussuring smile while Ron just picked at his food.

Draco filled his plate with a few potatoes and some chicken with a few vegetables while Hermione only filled it with a small piece of chicken and two potatoes.

Hermione took a sip of her pumpkin juice and nearly chocked on it when she saw Ginny mouthing, "So, did you two shag?"

Hermione coughed, drawing attention from the entire school and Draco awkwardly patted her back when she didn't stop – in a very strangled position, since he had to stretch his right arm in front of his chest, underneath their arms and then reaching her back.

After a full minute she stopped and Draco pulled back his hand and Hermione gave Ginny a death glare whom just laughed in return.

Hermione sighed and ate her dinner and after about twenty minutes she asked Draco to go, which he agreed to.

"I'll see you all later," Hermione said with a smile to her best friends and Harry and Ginny smiled and nodded back, bid their goodbyes while Ron just completely ignored her, pretending that she didn't exist.

Hermione simply rolled her eyes at Ron and his childish behavior, and then walked out of the Great Hall with Draco at her side and the stares burning in their backs.

Hermione let out a relieved sigh when they were out of view and Draco gave an amused chuckle which made Hermione grin, "Shut up, I'm just glad we're out of prying eyes." she said and saw him nodding in agreement.

They reached the Gryffindor Tower and directly made their way to the girls' dormitory and to Hermione's bed, which was located to the left side of the entrance, the third bed.

They both emptied their pockets and Hermione enlarged all their supplies and they both put it into their own trunks.

Hermione and Draco took off their shoes and socks and when he put his foot on top of hers, she stretched her hand that she had been holding with Draco.

She leaned over to her pillow, lifted it up and picked up her pajamas, which were a simple black tanktop and aqua cotton shorts.

When she turned back around she was greeted with the sight of Draco standing in only his school pants, since he had removed his robe, sweater, tie and button-down-shirt while she was stretching and picking up her pajamas.

Hermione took a hair elastic from her nightstand and tied up her hair in a ponytail, ignoring the impatient glances he was giving her.

She removed her robe and pulled off her sweater, this time a bit smoother than a few hours ago, and then she removed her tie and unbuttoned her button-down-shirt, dropping it on the bed besides her.

She picked up the black tank top and pulled it over her head and then they intertwined their hands again and he let his foot slide off.

"Damn it," he said when he realised he forgot to unbuckle his belt. Hermione followed his gaze and let out a frustrated sigh, "Seriously, Malfoy?" she asked and he just grumbled.

She rolled her eyes and let her free hand rest on his belt and he said, "What the hell are you doing, Granger?" he hissed.

"I refuse to switch between hands and feet whole the time, and especially because of such a minor thing. So help me to unbuckle your belt." she hissed back.

He let out a frustrated sigh and moved his hand to his belt and when they were unbuckling his belt they heard the door open and a few gasps were heard, what caused both Hermione and Draco's head to look at the door, their hands stilling and they saw Lavender and Parvati standing in the doorway.

Hermione's faced reddened when she realised how this probably looked like and she turned her head sideways, away from the two girls and in the process slightly leaning forward.

As soon as she heard the door close she looked at Draco and let out a frustrated sigh, "We are so not going to hear the end of this." she said and Draco ran a hand through his hair and let out a long sigh.

Either way, they had to get changed so they finished unbuckling his belt and as soon as they were done she let her hand fall down to her side and he lowered his pants and stepped out of it.

Then he picked up his silk dark green pajama pants and put them on. Hermione stepped out of her skirt and then put on her cotton shorts and when they were done she levitated all the items that were laying on her bed to the floor and then released the spell.

They both walked over to the right side of the bed and he let Hermione slip in first and she wiggled to her right so he could slip in too.

Hermione closed the curtains around her bed and muttered a silencing spell in case they were going to throw snarky comments at each other and they wouldn't wake up the rest of the students.

They both lay down and without saying another word, not even goodnight, they both fell asleep.

_Hermione tried to strengten her grip on Draco's hand, begging and praying that they wouldn't lose contact. Tears were streaming down her face when she felt his hand slipping out of hers, slowly drifting away, their limbs slowly falling off and all she could do was scream and cry. _

And that's exactly how she woke herself and Draco up: screaming. And both jumped up and sat straight up in bed.

"What the hell, Granger?" Draco asked angry until he saw tears streaming down her face and felt her hand trembling.

"What's the matter?" He asked a bit more sensitive.

Without thinking she embraced him and cried, she had no idea why she was crying, it was only a stupid dream, but yet it felt so real, the thought of losing him and never being able to touch him again – _what the hell is this bond doing to me? _She thought.

Draco soothed her back and let her cry, no idea why he was being so affectionate. _Just for my own sake, the sooner she shuts up, the sooner I can get back to sleep. _He thought.

After a few minutes she calmed down and let go, a blush creeping on her face and suddenly very grateful that she put the silencing charm on her bed. "I'm sorry," she mumbled and picked up the watch on her nightstand – 2:58 am and she sighed, putting the watch back down and let her hand fall into her lap.

"Want to tell me what made you cry?" he asked and looked at her.

Hermione took a deep breath, and started talking, "I don't know how, but this bond," and she waved with her free hand at their connected hands and went on, "is controlling me somehow." she sighed and started explaining her dream, "I dreamt that we lost contact, and slowly our limbs got torn off our bodies and..-" she swallowed the last words and instead just finished her sentence inwardly: _I couldn't bear the thought of losing you. _

"- I was just scared, I guess.." she mumbled and his features softend and sighed.

"Well, that won't happen." he said and sunk back in bed and after a few uncertain seconds Hermione followed and let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

Draco pulled her towards him so they were now spooning. _Just for my own sake _Draco repeated in his mind over and over again.

Hermione gasped when her back came in contact with his stomach, most certainly not expecting this move, but she was too tired to fight back and just let it happen.

_**Authors note: **__I'm not very satisfied about this chapter, I feel like there's something missing, and I feel like they are both very out of character, especially Draco. But I do hope you can forgive me and I hope you enjoyed it anyways. And don't worry, I will toughen him up sometime later and make him more Draco like. I'm just trying to figure out how. And don't hold back if you have any ideas you might want to share! _


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